The truth is
by Neko-tama
Summary: Apple likes to pick on her classmate Raven, but that changes quickly and she discovers something that her family would never accept. Raven x Apple Modern AU
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own ever after high, nor do I make money using their ideas, as clearly indicated by my empty purse.

Don't worry I haven't given up on continuing my other storry I am just somewhat clueless what else to write except for some really wacky ideas (If you have any good ideas: a PM would be wellcome) and I just really wanted to write this one.

As always constructive critique is very much appreciated and so are corrections on my use of language since I am not a native speaker.

 **Trigger warning!:** For everything reaching from bullying to brutal murder, if you plan on reading this untll the end.

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 _Blood on her skin. Blood on her clothes. Blood all around her. Empty eyes starring at her from a decapitated head held up with a devilish grin as if it was a trophy by no other than..._

Raven woke up screaming in a pool of her own sweat. She would like to say that she has gotten used to it, but she still felt deeply horrified by every single nightmare.

She shook of the fear and peeked at her old alarm clock. Five minutes until she had to stand up. She might as well get ready now. She jumped under the shower, staring at the fungus that just kept growing in the upper corner with no little amount of disgust and slipped into her worn of black clothes after she was done. A short check on the fridge made it clear that there would not be breakfast today and her father was already off to his first of three shifts of the day. Everything just as usual. She sighted and went to school with a growling stomach.

"Well, look! If it isn't the always well dressed miss Black." Apple mocked "Tell us Raven, just where do you get these stylish rags?"

Apple White was the most annoying person in the world. The spoiled child of a rich guy who has made a name for himself in the lines of the Republicans. She knew nothing about poverty and thought that everybody who was poor was lazy, as her father had probably taught her.

"Shut up Apple. I like my clothes." At least that wasn't a lie. Cargo pants and tank tops where very practical and they did look good too, even when they where not exactly new anymore. That the always new designer-dresses wearing Apple would disagree did not come as a surprise though.

"Yeah? I am sure your girlfriend likes your shitty clothes too." She said spitefully and turned to her friends "Did you know she is a dyke?"

Blondie giggled like a little girl that had just heard something inappropriate and Briar looked disgusted.

Raven gave her a death glare and rushed through their little group to get to her classroom. How did Apple even know about her orientation? Had somebody seen her at the gay bar she was helping out? It was actually more of a gay restaurant, but that was besides the point. _Stupid homophobic brat!_


	2. Chapter 2

Also: I have most of the chapters already written and did I mention that I have no idea what american high schools are like?

* * *

"Miss white it is time"

"Yes James I am up already!" Apple stretched herself and yawned for a moment, before she got up to take a shower in her personal bathroom. When she was ready she picked a dress from her walk-in closet and went to have breakfast with her parents who were already waiting at the table. "Good morning! What do we have today?"

"I have prepared a few sandwiches for you to choose from as well as Earl Grey, Darjeeling and a mixed-fruits-tea Miss White." The butler explained while holding her chair for her to sit down.

She picked a sandwich that had boiled eggs and smoked salmon on it - among other things - and asked James for a cup of the fruit-tea.

"Can you believe it? Now those gays can marry in Alabama too. Just how can the supreme court allow such an abomination in a christian country like ours?" Her father asked waving around with the newspaper.

"Really?" Apple knitted her eyebrows. "That is outrageous."

Before her parents could rant on, James interrupted the conversation by pointing out that it was time for the young lady to get ready and that he would be getting the car.

Blondie and Briar where already at the lockers, talking about something and greeted her as usual, when she spotted Raven Black in the crowd and told her friends to come with her. She found it insulting, that she had to share a school and even some classes with a lowlife like Raven, especially after she had seen her trough the window of a gay bar on some photos on her fathers computer labeled "Places of sin in our town". It was no stretch to assume that she was gay.

"Well, look if that isn't the always well dressed miss Black." Apple mocked her. "Tell us Raven, just where do you get these stylish rags?"

"Shut up Apple. I like my clothes."

 _Shut up? How dare you?_ Apple was upset, that somebody like Raven had the nerve to speak to her like this.

"Yeah? I am sure your girlfriend likes your shitty clothes too." She said spitefully and turned to her friends "Did you know she is a dyke?"

Blondie giggled and Briar looked disgusted, while Raven just looked at her like she was about to murder her and her entire family, before she ran off.

"Can you believe we have to use the same changing room as her? Gross!"


	3. Chapter 3

Of course she and Briar could not resist talking in class and so the teacher put her on one of the backseats, just two seats next to Raven. Blondie and Briar were now model students because they didn't want to be relocated to somewhere around Raven too, so she allowed herself to take a closer look at the girl she hated so much. Surprisingly enough she was actually very pretty. Her face was nicely shaped, like a mix of elegant and cute, her black and purple hair was smooth and silky and her purple eyes were not only unusual, but even intriguing.

Ok, so she had a pretty face. She was still an abomination from a lazy family. She was poor after all, her family had to be lazy people who were leaching of benefits and how could she be anything else than lazy with such parents?

But wait, she was working in that..., that... place. A terrible place, but working nonetheless and she did it even though she had her hands full with school. So not lazy either? No matter. Still an abomination. God hated fags and if god hated them, so did Apple.

Another look at Raven and she felt like her heart just skipped a beat and she felt like she wanted that face that was lost in worry smile. Pity? Probably because of pity, right? You could hate somebody and still feel bad for them, even if you do not actually feel bad. Why else would she want to see her smile?


	4. Chapter 4

Before I post more than this I will wait for some reviews because I am curious and not terribly nice. I hope for some constructive criticism and honest reviews and of course that you - dear reader - enjoyed the experience so far.

And don't worry: There will be longer chapters too.

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As the bell rang break Raven was out the door immediately, while Apple was still packing her stuff.

By the time she reached her locker her friends were already bothering Raven at hers. A little frown appeared on Apples face, that grew bigger any second and was so intense that everybody on the floor would have dropped dead if glares could kill, the moment Raven got nudged to the ground by her friends.

"Hey!" Apple grabbed Blondie's shoulder and turned her around. "Stop it! You are crossing the line!"

"What's up with you? You are defending her?"

Apple ignored her and reached out her hand to Raven to help her up. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?" Unsurprisingly she just gave her a hostile look and helped herself up.

"This is on you." Raven brushed some dust of her pants and looked her directly in the eye with an indifference in her voice, that just broke Apples heart. "Don't act like you are sorry."

She left a dumbfounded Apple behind when she just turned around and walked away.

 _She doesn't even care._ She realized. _I mean nothing to her._

And why did she care again? The question was left unanswered, but she could not deny that she did.


	5. Chapter 5

Raven landed on her butt, after Blondie nudged her. It was just the peak of a session with Apples lovely friends that had to this point been composed of insults, assurances how worthless she was and anti-gay slurs, all of which things she was used to. The physical aggression did come as a surprise though. Never – in all the time they have been on bad terms – have they actually laid hands on her and that was not the only surprising thing about them today. Sure they have always looked down on her, but today they were hateful. Their faces, their words, their actions were guided by burning hatred. She was not just some lowlife to them anymore. In their heads she has become the enemy.

She just wanted to walk away and pretend not to care, since she figured it would be the safest thing to do, but then something unexpected happened. Apple of all people came to help her and even scolded her own friends. _What?!_

Before she had even processed what just happened Apples hand reached out to her. "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

 _Obviously not?_ Raven was furious, but determined not to show it. How could this girl insult and annoy her for almost two years and then suddenly act like she cared? She even outed her, dammit!

Raven ignored her hand and stood up herself. "This is on you." She said, still determined not to show any feelings. She brushed some dust of her pants and looked right into Apples eyes. "Don't act like you are sorry."

She turned around and walked away like she didn't care, because that is what she wanted it to look like. The truth of course was more complicated. While she still did hate Apple for everything she had to endure due to and by her, her little knight in shining armor act had left an impression on her.

 _Maybe she isn't all bad._

Apple being bad or not was not exactly her biggest concern at the moment though. Briar's and Goldie's attitude was dangerous and she was sure that they would mean big trouble for her in the future.


	6. Chapter 6

Apple was sitting in the car and chewed on on her nails. She was on the way to one of her fathers political events. He had organized some kind of anti gay meeting – a topic that had always been important to him, but left him particularly restless since he read about Alabama – and of course he had to show off his wonderful family. As much as she loved her father and the spotlight, she didn't feel like it today. Raven just wouldn't leave her head and neither would the storm of emotions that she had to deal with since a few days. Guilt most of all, but also something else. The realization that Raven didn't care about her at all kept bugging her. It was like a vampire that has bitten on to her mind the moment it happened and has been draining her ever since.

The last days she had not dared to go near Raven and every time one of her indifferent looks hit her he just wanted to sink into the ground and never be seen again. It bothered her so much, she even prayed for it to stop every evening, but as always god did not seem to mind her suffering. _Why do I even bother?_

The car stopped and James opened it, ready to escort her into the building since some gay people and their allies were protesting in front of it. They were demanding to stop the hate. Didn't that actually sound wonderful? Why was it that only those who opposed her father ever demanded that? And was her father not just trying to protect everybody from sin? Raven came to her mind again. She was not exactly sinful. In fact – considering how they bullied her – thinking about how she had never even attempted to fight back, or to get revenge was prove of her wonderful character. Guilt made Apples heart feel terribly heavy again. Why had she been so terrible towards such a wonderful person? Because of what her parents taught her about poor people? It appeared wrong. It _was_ wrong. What else had they taught her that was more than questionable? The seed of doubt began to sprout in her mind, leading her to question everything her parents ever told her.

"Miss White? Ready to go?" James opened an umbrella to protect her from heart shaped confetti the protesters kept trowing around everywhere. _So dangerous!_ A sarcastic smile appeared on her face to replace the artificial one she always kept there.

"Sure."

Her father's event was held in a gym that the school it belonged to rented out to make some extra money and unlike usual she wanted to get out of the room as fast as she possibly could. Her doubts had turned into disgust the moment she realized what the people here were thinking and demanding. They looked down on other people because they were in love. _She_ had done that! No wonder Raven hated her!

 _You wish. She doesn't care about you at all!_

The thought made her frown for a moment.

She went on stage and smiled like she was supposed to, when she was supposed to and left the hall right after that. She needed fresh air. She needed a hate free space. Just how could she have bought into all that nonsense before?

She went to the bathroom, simply because of the lack of better ideas and bumped into a woman, that was just about to leave.

"Oh! Sorry. Are you alright?" She asked. She was old. Maybe seventy years old, dressed a little like a hippy and smelled of an unfamiliar kind of smoke. Her voice sounded rough and she had some kind of accent.

"Honestly?" Apple looked around to make sure non of her fathers associates were around. "No. But that's not your fault."

A gentle smile appeared on the old lady's face. "Let me guess. Your parents dragged you along and you don't like the way they talk about gay people?"

Apple was hardly surprised that she was able to get to that conclusion. It was likely written all over her face.

"Good guess. What are you doing here?"

"I am one of the gay people your parents like to talk about." She answered with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"You are?" Now that she said it it was obvious. What else would she be doing here? "Can I treat you to a coffee?" Apple wanted to start over with her opinions of people. Prejudice had done her no good, so maybe it was time to try and be open minded. To get to know people instead of judging then without knowing anything about them.

The old woman shrugged. "Sure."

"So. You must have had an interesting live, right? When did you come out?" She asked, suspecting that life must have been hard of her back in her days, and then realized that she might have been rude. "If you don't mind talking about it, I mean."

The old lady laughed. "It's alright. If you really want to know, I came out when I was about your age I think. It was a terrible time back then. Women were expected to marry a man and to be his caring housewife, in most parts of the world we couldn't even vote at the time, you know? However I didn't like that prospect. To be honest the idea of having sex with a man alone was deeply repulsive to me, but being his loyal servant? Hell no! Of course at some point I fell in love with a girl for the first time. Marrying a man seemed more distant than ever and I knew exactly that everything would end up being just fine as long as I could be together with her. Turns out she was hetero though." She laughed like she was making fun of her own gullibility back then. "After she rejected me, she told everybody that I was into women and my parents being the good Christians that they were, kicked me out and never spoke to me again. Come to think of it I never came out in that situation. I was outed by her."

Apple tried to ignore the guilt that came up, when she thought about the parallels between the girl in the story and herself in regards to Raven and asked something to keep the conversation going. "How did you know that you were in love with her?"

"Just the usual symptoms. I liked to look at her, my heart skipped a beat every now and then when I was around her and I wanted to make her happy and a little later fantasies about kissing her and other stuff. Those kinds of things, you know? Thoughts and feeling you only have when you are in love."

Apple could imagine what she meant by _other stuff_ just as precisely as she could imagine her parents scolding her for it. She sighted. Just how did her family turn out to be such a hassle? She loved them, but their political believes would make her life anything but easy.

"I see you have your own love problems young lady. Take it from an old hag like myself: However it turns out, it'll be fine in the long run as long as you don't die."

Love problems? She? No! Right? Now that she thought about it, she did want to see Raven smile and her heart skipped beats around her all the time and now that she thought about kissing Raven she actually liked the idea very much. _Wait! What?!_ She was in Love with Raven?!

"Um, thanks." She stuttered while her face was a picture of utter confusion.

 _I am not in love with Raven!_

Her imagination proved her wrong by bombarding her with ideas about kissing Raven and cuddling with Raven an doing _other stuff,_ which gave her a fuzzy warm feeling and the kind of heartache that comes from wanting something and not getting it.

Apple buried her face in the palms of her hand and sighted again. She was in very deep trouble.


	7. Chapter 7

Raven was still angry to say the least, but she did find a little joy in the fact that every time she acted indifferent towards Apple, the spoiled brat looked a little like her world was collapsing. Ever decreasing joy since causing other people to feel bad was wrong, she knew it and she usually did not like it at all, but she would try to enjoy the tiny bit of revenge that she got as long as she could. That said screwing with Apple's obvious guilt would probably loose the last bit of joy some time around this afternoon. She just wasn't the kind of person to do that.

She opened her locker and found a letter that she didn't put there. The paper even of the envelope looked expensive and smelled like flowers, so she already had a suspect. For a moment she thought about throwing it in the bin since she didn't want to hear any excuses, but then she decided to read it anyway since she was curious what Apple had to say.

 _Dear Raven,_

 _I know I was never nice to you. In fact I was a total jerk all the time, especially that time a few days ago and I see that now. What I wanted to tell you is that I am really and sincerely sorry. I can't even tell you just how sorry I am and even though I know I have no right to ask that of you, if you find it in your heart to forgive me, it would mean the world to me. If you don't, I just want to assure you that I will not bully you again and that I will try to keep the others from doing it too.  
If I can make it up to you in in any way, please let me know._

 _Best wishes,  
Apple_

That was actually kind of cute and it read like she was crushed by regret. Raven shrugged. It could just be the prelude to another joke at her expense and she certainly was not interested in that.

She put the letter back and closed the locker, when she saw Apple waving at her with a nervous smile on her lips before she took off in the wrong direction. Both her next lessons and her friends were the other way. Something was suspicious and Raven was kind of interested in suspicious things. She followed her, which turned out more difficult than expected, since the rich girl was pretty fast. Who would have thought growing up in a palace would teach you how to run?

Raven ran after her to the outside around the corner to the playground nobody ever used, because high school students weren't exactly in that age anymore. She saw her crawling into one of those concrete tubes that were ugly as hell but brilliant for being alone, when you just couldn't take people at the moment. Raven thought about respecting Apple's wish for solitude, but curiosity won.

"Apple?" She made a few steps toward the pipe.

"I'm not here." Apples voice sounded higher than usual.

"Funny. Come on Apple, let's talk."

Slowly She came out of the tube and waited for Raven to say something. Her expression shifted between a smile and sadness so often that it turned into a weird mix of both most of the time and her eyes that Raven had not seen clearly from the distance before were red and she seemed to be unable to decide if it was ok to look at her or not. She had tried to hide the red with make-up, but it was still faintly visible.

 _Did she cry? Is it because of me?_

Raven felt terrible about herself and for the first time in days she dropped the mask of indifference around Apple and showed her concern without restraint.

"So... Because of that letter. Were you serious?"

Apple nodded frantically as if she was under a lot of pressure.

"Ok."

She looked confused. "Ok what?"

"Ok I forgive you." Raven made clear. Apple's expression turned almost ecstatically happy. "Under one condition." Absolute horror. "You explain to my why you were the way you were and why you suddenly changed." Back to happy. Her emotional roller coaster was also kind of cute. She never would have guessed Apple had a cute side too.

"Sure, no problem, how about I treat you to a meal in the evening and you can ask anything you want."

Raven was all ears. Did she just say free food? "Sounds great!"

Free food! And Apple didn't look like a mess anymore because of her. Not so bad either.

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I am sorry this comes a little late, but I have to deal with test that determine the course of my next year at the moment and I wanted to make sure to do the best I could when adding just the right amount of details on this chapter, so as you can imagine I am terribly curious what you think about the storry so far and of course my writing style. Also language, but I assume I got that accross already.


	8. Chapter 8

Apple could only wonder about Ravens idea of a nice restaurant. She was standing in front of the "Brothers Grimm", a place that she would usually consider beneath her. The originally green outer walls were darkened by dust and whatever else she did not even want to know about and it even had cracks in it. The Inside did not look much better judging from what she had seen trough the window. No marble decorated the place, the floor was wooden , the walls plain except for some copies of ugly pictures in even uglier frames and the furniture was not only old and battered, but lacked style as well. At least she had looked up the restaurant on the internet beforehand and was now only slightly overdressed. It was the least expensive thing that she could find in her entire wardrobe. A simple black dress that did not cover her knees and shoulders. It took some persuasion for her parents to approve of her wearing it in public. "Indecent" is what her mother had called it and her father had asked if she had the intention of getting raped. People her age would consider it pretty conservative, so it took some restraint not to roll her eyes. She just hoped Raven would like it.

Apple left out another sight thinking about her. It happened so often today it annoyed even herself. Still, the thought of her and even worse her affection left Apple melting in the warmth of her imagination.

 _Get yourself together! She just formally forgave you and she won't start doing lovey-dovey things with you just because you treat her for supper!_

"Hey Apple." Raven had arrived. "You look amazing, black really suits you."

Heat rose to her face and she could only imagine how terribly she was blushing. "Who? Me? Really? Uh,... thanks! You look really nice too. I mean you look like always, so I guess you always look really nice." God she was nervous! "Wanna go inside?"

"Thanks and sure. Let's go." Raven offered her elbow, probably as a joke since she seemed surprised when Apple actually linked arms with her.

"Are you sure you want to link arms with a lesbian? I heard we try to have sex with every unsuspecting girl we can get our hands on." She said with a teasing voice causing Apple to blush even more violently.

"R-really?" _That would actually be pretty nice. - Oh just shut up brain! This is difficult enough as it is!_

Raven laughed. "Well, I heard it often enough, but I can assure you that it is nonsense." She rolled her eyes. "Like I wouldn't have standards."

 _Does that mean she thinks I am not good enough for her?_ Apple shook her head. What was with the silly thoughts lately?

They found a table to sit on and it was not as terrible as she first thought it would be. Being in the restaurant, it actually had a nice atmosphere that she didn't know from the high class restaurants she was used to. It was pretty cozy.

Raven asked her about her behavior in the past and what made her change and she actually managed to tell the story without letting the fact that she had a crush on her slip while they were eating.

"So you started thinking critically about things you think you knew about gay people after Blondie nudged me and that caused you to question everything and made you see the errors of your ways?" Raven summarized.

"Something like that." Apple nodded and it became silent since Raven seemed very occupied with her second serving. Was this girl starving, or did she just have a really big appetite?

"Can I ask you about something?" She asked after a while, when she just couldn't stand the silence anymore. Raven nodded and took another bite.

"You see I have a friend, a girl, and she has a crush on this other girl who she knows likes girls, but she doesn't know how to approach her and she is scared of being rejected and so she asked me for advice and I couldn't give her any so I am asking you. Can you help us out?"

Raven raised an eyebrow, supposedly because Apple hadn't mentioned that part in her story, and swallowed. "Well, it is really not very complicated. She has to ask. If she gets rejected at least she can move on, if she doesn't get rejected it's good for her. If she never asks, she will never find out."

Apple nodded like she was trying to memorize it. "And what should she ask?"

Raven shrugged like it wouldn't really matter. "If she wants to go out with her? Something like that."

Apple blushed so hard that she feared for her consciousness. "So... Do you wanna go out with me?"

Raven nodded and Apple felt her heart explode with happiness. "Exactly like that." And implode.

 _Raven, you thick headed idiot!_

"No Raven. Do _you_ want to go out with _me_?"

Raven raised an eyebrow again. "I already said said that way is... Oh!" Her voice sounded completely surprised when she understood what kind of question Apple was asking.

"So?" Apple felt like she was dying and only an answer could save her.

A few more painful moments ran by in which Raven just stared at her like she was out of her mind. "Well... We could try, right?"

Not quite what Apple was hoping for, but it was certainly better than a no. So much better! "Really?" Her voice was about as high as her hopes at this point.

"Really."

Apple squealed of happiness and kissed Raven on the cheek in her excitement only to blush wildly afterwards. Her new girlfriend seemed less impressed, but gave her an affectionate look that made her melt.

"So we can... You know..." She wanted to say hug, but what she got was way better. She felt Ravens fingers gently directing her face in her direction so she could see those amazing purple eyes looking right into hers for a moment that that left her breathless, before she closed them and pressed her lips on hers.

Apple moaned partly because she was surprised, but mostly because her mind was overflowing with happiness and was a bit disappointed when Raven drew back after what felt like a much to short period of time. Still: "Wow!"

"I'm glad you think so." Raven took a sip of her drink like nothing happened, but Apple saw the blush on her face. She was so adorable!

 _Am I the luckiest girl alive, or what?!_ She felt like dancing, but she didn't want Raven to think she was a weirdo. She did the next best thing. Kissing her new girlfriend.


	9. Chapter 9

Raven was beat. School, work and something that turned out to be a date on one day was a bit much, but at least the last part was enjoyable. She touched her lips remembering the feeling of Apple's on them and her heart skipped a beat in favor of an incredibly warm and fuzzy feeling that spread through her entire body and gave her hope that just maybe she could one day forget about her dark past and look into a bright future side by side with her.

At first she had been skeptical about Apple, but the regret and the love that she had shown her was as great as it was genuine and left no doubts about the purity of her intentions. It was the first time in over five years that the word love did not sound tainted in her ears, that it did not fill Ravens heart with absolute horror and for that alone she was ready to give Apple every bit of affection that she could possibly manage to.

The date, after it had turned out to be one, had for the most part been composed of kisses, cuddling and a talking Apple who made it very clear – intentionally or not – that she had a lot of things to deal with right now most of which she found terribly confusing. Raven had not minded her talking that much about herself, for one part because it was actually interesting to get insight into her strange little world and she was adorable when she tried to sort out her thoughts and for the other part because she was anything but ready to talk about herself. In fact she would not mind never talking about herself, but she would have to eventually.

Raven sighted, went to her room, undressed and slipped into bed, where she fell asleep surprisingly fast after hugging her pillow and imagining it was her girlfriend.

 _Blood on her skin. Blood on her clothes. Blood all around her. A mutilated body on the ground. Surrounded by blood. Headless. The smell stings in her nose. Something in her hand. It's hair. Red covers long blonde curls. Something attached to it. She lifts it to see. A head. Empty eyes staring at her her. Apples eyes._

Once again Raven wakes up screaming, but she can't brush it of this time. All that the painful hole she felt, where her heart was supposed to be allowed her to do was to curl up in a ball and cry.

When the sun rose and she ran out of tears to shed, Raven came to a painful decision. She could never be with Apple. Never be with anybody she actually loved.

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Thank you, dear readers, for the positive Feedback. I am delighted you enjoy reading what I come up with and I hope you will keep enjoying even when it comes to the unplessant parts and as always: Your reviews make me very happy, so don't hold back with your opinion be it positive or negative, as long as it is honest.


	10. Chapter 10

Apple had been worried when Raven didn't show up the day before, so she was relieved when she saw her in the hallway, but when Raven noticed her, she ran off.

This kept happening for a few days. Whenever they saw each other Raven disappeared, whenever they had lessons together Raven was gone as soon as the lesson was over and whenever Apple got close to her she pretended not to see her and ran away and if that was not enough she ignored her messages and calls. Had she done something wrong? Had they been moving on to fast in their relationship and Raven thought she was a slut? Has Raven never even liked her in the first place? Had she just been toyed with? She had to suppress her tears when she thought about it in public, or in the presence of her parents and every time she saw Raven running she felt her heart breaking a little more.

A few times she saw Briar and Blondie picking on her before she ran away, indicating that the two of them lost the last bit of respect towards her and did no longer care about her request to leave Raven alone. Knowing that she was still completely shocked when she walked into a classroom that should have been empty only to witness how Briar was holding Raven in a tight grip that she tried to escape from and Blondie opening the buttons of the shirt that her victim wore today while recording the process with her smartphone.

"Let's see how the entire school likes your body after I load this up on the internet, shall we?" Blondie sounded like she actually thought that was funny.

A heartbeat later Apple noticed that her hand hurt and that Briar was lying on the ground pressing a hand against one of her eyes and that Blondie was slowly backing off looking at the phone that was crushed under Apples heel, but all that was barely interesting. The only interesting person in the room was Raven. She reached out her still hurting hand to her and asked: "Sorry about that. Are you alright?"

Raven grabbed her hand and hugged her tightly. Apple was at peace in this moment. Her raging emotions stopped and relief and a tiny spark of hope took their place, but at the same time questions started to explode in her head. This meant she still liked her, right? That they still had a chance together? Her hopes were crushed, when Raven backed up and she noticed the tears in her eyes. She whispered: "I'm sorry Apple. I wish I could be with you.", turned around and ran off. Again.

 _What? Why?_ Those were the only things she could think of the entire time. While Briar complained about her black eye and declared their friendship over, while the teachers and the principal scolded her for hitting her friend and destroying her other friends property, while her parents scolded her for the same thing and when she was trying to sleep. Why would she say that? Why would she do that? Did she like her back, or not? If yes, why would she do that? Also if no, why would she do that? Nothing made sense anymore!

The next day after school, Apple snuck away so James, who was entrusted with bringing her back home wouldn't find her, and went to the address that she has gotten from Raven only friend she knew of. Her name was Madeline and she was a total weirdo who claimed to hear voices and referred to reality as a story, but she was nice and very cooperative after Apple had offered to pay for her favorite tea.

When she arrived at the door she was looking for she could only wonder that nobody had tried to rob her considering the kind of neighborhood she was in. This was where Raven grew up? It must have been really hard for her. How could there even be enough space to live in this little... well... house, right? It was too big to be a hut, but not by much.

She rang the doorbell ready to put her foot in the door until she was equipped with some answers and preferably Ravens never dying love.

A terrible looking Raven opened the door. She looked much older than she should have, her face didn't give any reason to believe that she had ever smiled in her entire life and her eyes were red and deep dark rings under them told a story of insomnia. When she recognized Apple fear took over her expression and she tried to close the door immediately, which failed due to smart preparation. Apple grimaced, but ignored the pain. "We need to talk!"

Despite what she just said she tore open the door, grabbed the face of a very surprised Raven an pressed her own lips on those of the utterly unsuspecting girl, then fell on her knees and started crying. A course of action most fitting for her confused heart, but not exactly talking.

She felt some relief, when Raven also knelt down and took her in a warm embrace.

"You never do something like that again? You hear me?" Apple sobbed and hugged the person responsible for this mess. Raven nodded, picked her up bridal style and carried her to the sofa were she sat down with Apple on her lap and hugged her until she got herself together again.

"So what was the whole avoiding me thing about?" Apple demanded to know.

"It is for your protection Apple. You are not save around me."

Now she just got angry. "What the fuck are you talking about?" What was she thinking? How was ignoring and avoiding her protection?

Raven went pale again and swallowed before she reluctantly answered. "Ever heard of hanging head killer?"

Apple nodded slowly. Everybody in the city has heard of her. She was caught a few years ago. She got her name because she decapitated he victims and hung the heads in the window of their bedroom for everybody to see. She has claimed at least fifteen lives before she was caught, one of them her own child. She has also been called the Evil Queen while the media reported on the trial due to her last name being Queen.

"She is my mother."

Apple's eyes widened and goosebumps claimed every inch of her body, but Raven was not finished. "I guess you need to hear what happened to understand." Her eyes looked dead while she told her story with a monotonous voice.

"We didn't know about anything until five years ago when my father was off to work and she decided that she loved us too much. Me, my brother and my father. She loved us too much, so we had to die. She loved my brother most, so she choose him first. She stabbed him. First where it wasn't lethal, so she could hear him scream she loved his screams, you know? When she thought he had screamed enough she cut his throat and cut and cut 'till his head was in her hand. His blood was everywhere. On my skin, on my clothes, on the ground, and on her. Most of it was on her. She liked it, when it sprayed on her. She wanted to hang his head in the window, but his hair was to short so she went to another room to get some string. She left the head on the ground where it could stare at me. I managed to open her knots and escape her fetters, so I could climb out of the window and escape."

Her empty gaze pierced right trough Apple before some life reignited in her eyes. "I am her daughter. I will kill you if I love you. One day I will go crazy like her and kill everybody I love! I am a monster!" Tears started running over her face. A sight Apple became all to accustomed to when looking in the mirror lately. "I don't want to kill you." She whispered. "I don't want to kill you" She repeated it a few times while Apple hugged her gently and switched to "I don't want you to die."

Apple had always thought heritage was something to be proud of and that family is something to be celebrated, but hearing Raven tell her story, telling it like she was entirely detached from it, because any other way would break her, had murdered that idea like Ravens mother has murdered her brother.

"You are not a monster Raven. You are one of the kindest, most loving and most forgiving persons I know. In fact you take the top spot in all three categories and I have never seen you use violence even in self defense, you are so peaceful even Gandhi could learn a few things from you. You are nothing like that woman. You understand? Not a tiny little bit." She told her while keeping her close to herself.

"How would you know? I could just snap one day." Raven protested, but snuggled up to her anyway.

"Anybody could." She admitted. "I really doubt you will though."

"M-hm." A moment later she heard her crush breathing evenly. Raven had fallen asleep.

With all the horror she just heard of she felt stupid that the most burning question in her head was: _So... We are good again, right? Together and lovey-dovey?_

* * *

 _Better late than never right? I had a little writters block. I hope you didn't wait to long._


End file.
